Postcard showing ten members of the Star Bloomer Girls Base Ball Club, wearing baseball uniforms emblazoned with a star, posed in a line, 1905. Bloomer Girls teams rarely played each other, but barnstormed across America, challenging local town, semi-pro, and minor league men's teams to an afternoon on the diamond. And Bloomer Girls frequently won, playing good, solid competitive hardball. The teams were integrated when it came to gender; although most of the players were women, each roster had at least one male player. Future St. Louis superstar Rogers Hornsby got his start on a Bloomer Girls team. The Bloomer Girls era lasted from the 1890's until 1934. Hundreds of teams - All Star Ranger Girls, Philadelphia Bobbies, New York Bloomer Girls, Baltimore Black Sox Colored Girls - offered employment, travel, and adventure for young women who could hit, field, slide, or catch.